Apparently Frank Antenori was just born yesterday

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

And I want to see his birth certificate.

"Don't make me angry" Frank Antenori wanted to give the folks in Vail who are seeking to incorporate as a city an assist in the legislature yesterday by changing Arizona's law regarding incorporation. Arizona lawmakers trying to limit cities' veto power over new communities:

Under current law, there is a six-mile line around any city of at least 5,000 residents which is considered part of the community's "urbanized area.'' More to the point, no new community can incorporate within that area without the consent of the existing city.

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The House Government Committee voted Tuesday to relax the rules that now give existing cities veto power over new communities anywhere within six miles of their limits. That new window would exist through 2020.

But Sen. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson, had to agree to limit the provisions of the bill to only Pima County. That eliminated potential opposition from other cities in the rest of the state who object to having new communities popping up on their borders.

And Antenori also had to jettison a provision in the Senate-passed version of the bill that actually would have allowed a group of residents of one city to de-annex and then become a new city of their own.

Antenori said the issue is one of local control.

Just one problem Frank — this has been done before and the Arizona Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional. I know, I was one of the lawyers who did not get paid for work done for individuals involved in the Casas Adobes incorporation in 1997. I tend to remember things like that.

But apparently Frank Antenori was just born yesterday and does not know the history of annexation and incorporation in Pima County.

[Casas Adobes] Residents voted to incorporate after a 1997 law, like the latest legislation, voided that six-mile rule. But judges struck down the law as unconstitutional.

A separate vote four years later was allowed to take place after Tucson, Marana and Oro Valley all agreed to permit a new election. But voters rejected incorporation at that time.

The same legal issues that voided that 1997 law also could doom what Antenori wants to do.

In its 2001 ruling, the Arizona Court of Appeals said the law was illegal special legislation because it applied only to Pima County and only for a limited period of time — both provisions that exist in Antenori's current measure.

Antenori said late Tuesday he was unaware of the earlier court ruling.

Doh! Just kill this bill and save the taxpayers the legal fees.